


Belly-up

by ShellyFanFic



Series: SEAL Team Week 2021 [5]
Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, SEAL Team (TV) Week 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:29:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28903416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShellyFanFic/pseuds/ShellyFanFic
Summary: SEAL Team Week 2021 fic for Friday - prompt: "In my defence, he was already dead when I got here."
Series: SEAL Team Week 2021 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112318
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	Belly-up

**Author's Note:**

> I am hoping to have a fic for Saturday, but the words are not flowing right now. If this is the last one for the week I hope you enjoy!

Naima knew that Ray was bored and miserable. He still had another couple of weeks in the immobiliser before he started active PT and he was getting antsy. Naima also knew that an antsy Ray usually ended up drowned in whiskey and looking for trouble. Trying to head off any trouble at the pass, she decided the Perry’s would take a trip.

Past experiences had taught her that travelling with kids could be hard going, so she wanted to get away, but not too far away. She was conscious of the mountain of ‘stuff’ it takes to go anywhere with a baby, and of the fact that Ray would be no use in helping move that mountain. Plus, she would be doing all the driving between feeds.

Factor in an easily bored six-year-old and a pained and pouting husband. Yeah, Naima didn’t want to travel too far. She trawled the internet and _finally_ found the perfect place. The beach house was just a couple of hours away even allowing for traffic. The grocery service would deliver within an hour or so of them getting there. The number for the local pizza place was in her phone so they could order in once she had unpacked.

The car was loaded, the kids were fed, and Ray was strapped in when from her car seat Jameelah asked “Mommy, who is going to feed Aquaman while we are gone?”

Naima barely held back the curse. She thought she was on top of it all and went and missed an obvious thing that like that huge grotesque goldfish. She went back into the house and checked the small cupboard in the tank stand. There was regular fish food, but no vacation feeding blocks.

She had no time to go to the store or they would miss the grocery service at the beach house. Suddenly she regretted having told Ray not to be “ridiculous” when he suggested the automatic feeder. 

“Shit.”

Naima cycled through her rolodex of a brain and mentally checked off the people she could _not_ ask to take care of Aquaman. Jason was not on good terms with them right now, Clay had injured his foot and was not allowed to drive, Trent was on a med update, Brock and Sonny were teaching green team, but Brock had his hands full with the new pup he’d started training with Cerb. Sonny then.

Momentarily she debated not calling anyone to feed the ugly damned fish, but then she considered how heartbroken Jameelah would be if it died. As she put a sprinkle of the regular food into the tank the buggy-eyed monstrosity looked at her mockingly. Naima shook her head and cursed again as she hit the speed dial. The phone went to voicemail and she figured that Sonny was probably running drills. A message it was.

“Hey Sonny, it’s Naima. I need to ask you a big favour. I’m taking Ray and the kids away until Friday. Everyone else is away or… indisposed, so I was hoping you could come by once or twice a day and feed Aquaman. His food is in the cupboard beneath the tank and it’s just a single pinch of the flakes each time. Anyway, I need to be getting on the road. Just message me to let me know you got this. Okay? Thanks Sonny. Love you. Bye.”

XXX

“Hey Sonny, you up for a beer tonight?” Davis asked on Thursday lunchtime.

“Yeah, I guess so. I have an errand to run first though.” Davis raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. “Need to swing by Ray and Naima’s place. I have to feed Aquaman while they’re away.”

Davis almost spat her coffee across the room, then proceeded to half laugh, half choke for the next couple of minutes.

“What’s so funny, huh?” Sonny feigned offence at her laughter while he smacked her firmly between the shoulder blades. She signalled for him to stop with a raise of her hand.

“Just… visions of you, Sonny Quinn, mere mortal, feeding chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne to the stunning example of perfection that is Jason Momoa.”

“Aw, come on now Davis. We both know if you had to choose then there’s only one man it’s gonna be. Am I right?”

Lisa nodded her head in agreement, “You’re right, Sonny. If I have to choose it will always be the beautiful man with the trident.”

“Well look at you, keeping me guessing here, Davis.”

“Just keeping you on your toes, Sailor. I’ll meet you at the bar then, okay?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

XXX

Lisa had settled in their usual spot, ordered their beers and was waiting for Sonny to join her when her phone started to ring. Knowing they were not getting spun up for at least another week took some of the tension out of her posture as she reached for it.

“Sonny?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Listen I got a problem, Davis. I need you to get over here like, yesterday.”

Davis got up from the table, letting the bar keep know they would be back. Not even having managed a mouthful of her beer, she started making her way to her truck. “Okay, I’m on my way. What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did something happen at the house?” She revved the engine and was about to pull the truck out of the parking space.

“Slow down and I’ll tell you. Jeez. It’s Aquaman. I think… well… I’m pretty certain he’s dead.”

Lisa put the truck back in to park and stared at the hands free in disbelief.

“Sonny, you seriously called me out of a bar in a panic because a goldfish died?” She shook her head.

“Lis, I’m telling you I need you to come. You are the best logistics specialist in the whole damned Navy. Anything I need, you get. You’re like Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon an-”

“You’re rambling, Sonny. I’ve never seen the film, and… well I guess I don’t see the link between logistics and a dead goldfish. You need me to coordinate the release with the flush?”

“Damn it, Davis. I need you to get over here and source me an identical goldfish. I can’t have my little Jammie-dodger gettin’ home tomorrow to find Aquaman belly up now, can I?”

“Do you know how manipulative you are sometimes Sonny? I’m on my way.”

XXX

What had started out as a few days of relaxation had become a nightmare pretty quickly. Jameelah didn’t like the scary shadows in the unfamiliar house, and with Ray still in the immobiliser Naima had no choice but to join Jameelah in her bed rather than the other way around.

After the third night of basically no sleep, RJ had spiked a temperature and was really cranky. Evidently, he had some teeth coming in and wanted to let everyone on the beach front know about it.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when Ray tripped up the porch steps and landed hard, tearing some stitches. Naima patched him up as best she could with limited supplies and packed him off in an Uber to the nearest walk-in center. Ray needed some new stitches and an MRI to check all was well internally. He got the stitches but was advised to see his own doctor for the scan.

So, a day earlier than planned, the Perry’s made their way back home.

XXX

Sonny heard the key in the door and sagged with relief. “Thank God you’re here. You’re gonna have to help me fish him out.”

“And why would I need to do that, Sonny Quinn?” asked Naima.

Lisa walked in a few seconds behind them to find Jameelah crying into Ray’s side, RJ crying in his car seat, and Sonny, hands in the air like he was being held at gunpoint, as Naima walked towards him pointing the fish net accusingly. The ugliest damned fish Davis had ever seen was bobbing lifelessly upside down in the tank.

Sonny kept walking backwards until he ran out of space. Back literally to the wall he pleaded “Naima, honey…, in my defence, he was already dead when I got here.” 


End file.
